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Jul 8, 2008 5:10 pm US/Central
Governor's Mansion Videotape Can Be Kept Secret
AUSTIN (AP) ―
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View of the Texas Governor's Mansion front porch from the southeast.
Texas Governor's Office
The Texas Attorney General's Office has ruled state officials don't have to release video surveillance tapes of the Governor's Mansion from the day it burned because of a pending criminal investigation.
Fire investigators suspect arson in the June 8 blaze that severely damaged the 152-year-old mansion. No one has been arrested.
The Texas Department of Public Safety, after receiving a request for the surveillance tapes from The Associated Press and other news agencies, wrote the attorney general asking for a ruling on whether they must be released.
In addition to the pending arson investigation, the DPS cited its need to protect public property from terrorism as a reason to keep the tapes secret.
Investigators have not classified the Governor's Mansion fire as terrorism, but the camera security system in question protects against potential terrorist acts, DPS assistant general counsel Jeff Lopez wrote to Attorney General Greg Abbott.
Abbott's office responded to the DPS in a letter dated July 3. It said that the footage is exempt from disclosure because of the criminal investigation so the attorney general didn't need to rule on the terrorism argument made by the DPS.
In the Governor's Mansion video, someone can be seen igniting an object and throwing it onto the porch of the building, fire investigators revealed. Investigators say the suspect was wearing a ball cap, a dark shirt, work-type gloves and blue jeans or cargo-style pants.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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